SESAC, the Music Rights Organization in the U.S., announced the launch of SESAC SCORES: The Beck Diversity Project, a five-year mentorship and grant program, at its annual Film & Television Composer Awards, last night, June 6. The project is designed to make a meaningful impact on the historically low number of women and people of color hired in the film composer community.
The inaugural project is a collaborative effort between long-time SESAC composer Christophe Beck and the SESAC Film & Television team, led by SESAC Chairman and CEO John Josephson and Erin Collins, Vice President of Film, Television and Developing Media. The $1 million commitment, divided over the next five years, will be used for educational programming and composer workshops.
"We’re thrilled to embrace a program that helps foster diversity in the audiovisual creative community and which empowers creators to pursue their passion,” said Josephson. “Working with Chris to help execute his vision to provide the needed resources to underrepresented composers is exciting for all of us at SESAC and an important way that we can demonstrate our commitment to the music community."
"Creating opportunities for new composers to contribute in a meaningful way to our industry is a passion of mine, and I’m looking forward to working alongside SESAC to make this happen," says Beck.
In addition, there will also be a national application process to select individuals for grants to support films already in production, which are short on funds, to enhance and deliver a better score. Projects considered for the grant program will be open to any narrative film and the fund will support composers from a wide range of musical backgrounds.
SESAC SCORES: The Beck Diversity Project will host its first workshop at SESAC’s Santa Monica office in July. The weekend programs, led by Beck and a curated team, will offer a creative environment and educational support during a hands-on composing workshop. Applications for the initial workshop will be accepted at SesacScores.com. Additional workshops will be announced throughout the year.
Formal applications and a review process for the grant program, which will launch later in the year will also be announced in the coming weeks.
The Film & Television Composer Awards is SESAC’s annual dinner event honoring music composers in the categories of film, network television, local television, cable television, advertising, and streaming media.
